Academic Excellence, Tradition and Pride

Paducah Public Schools News Article

Paducah Public Schools Students and Faculty Featured in "Best Christmas Pageant Ever: The Musical" at MHT

Let’s admit it—the Herdmans are the worst kids in the town. They lie, they cheat, they bully little kids, and smoke smelly cigars. There is only one place in town where you will never see the Herdmans—church. So the whole town panics when the Herdmans show up in Sunday school (because they’ve heard there are snacks!) and demand parts in the Christmas pageant, It turns out they really don’t know the Christmas story — they don’t know there’s not supposed to be biting or wrestling in Bethlehem — and they add their own special rewrites to make it, well, interesting!

Grace Bradley (Rachael Jaenichen, The Odd Couple) is the mom who has to reluctantly take on the annual pageant, and she is torn between calming the terrified pint-sized “good” church kids playing shepherds to the furious church ladies who are calling for her to cancel the whole thing. Grace has two choices—get rid of the rag-tag bunch of kids, who definitely need a little loving kindness in their lives, or let them stay in the pageant and risk being blamed for the worst pageant in the history of the town. With the help of her son Charlie (Jacob Julian, making his MHT debut) and Reverend Hopkins (C. Dale Julian, in his MHT debut) they help their community see the Christmas story and the Herdman kids through new eyes in this joyous musical adaptation of the funny and touching holiday classic. Silent night? Not a chance. But sometimes a little joyful noise is just right for Christmas.Based on the best-selling book by Barbara Robinson, the musical is set in southern Ohio in 1963. The songs reflect the music of 60’s pop, with a touch of Appalachia thrown in.